Study: The more teens are yelled at, the worse they behave

In the study, parent’s use of harsh verbal discipline with their children at age 13 was linked with an increased risk of conduct problems and symptoms of depression at ages 13 and 14. The more frequently parents used hash verbal discipline, the more commonly their children experienced these problems, the researchers found.

What’s more, children with conduct problems also received more harsh verbal discipline from their parents. This suggests that harsh verbal discipline may lead to a vicious cycle of children acting out, and parents escalating their disciplinary actions, the researchers said.

“Our findings offer insight into why some parents feel that no matter how loud they shout, their teenagers do not listen,” said study researcher Ming-Te Wang, assistant professor of psychology in education at the University of Pittsburgh.